Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Dodgers drop from 11th to 16th in ESPN's Power Rankings, coinciding with their sweep at the hands of St. Louis, their second memorable Jonathan Broxton meltdown in the last 23 days, and their dropping from a tie for second place into sole possession of fourth place in the NL West. Well, when you put it that way, 16th seems kind of generous.

The Dodgers' odds for making the playoffs this season, according to Baseball Prospectus, just shrunk to 18.8% from 32.6%, the fourth-worst net percentage point loss of any team. Oh, and the Giants rose to 20.3% over the same time period. (link is insider only)

If everyone remembers the early season was off to a rocky start and we had a kickass May. I'm optimistic that despite the recent poor showing we can pull it together. Even train wrecks can turn around.

Not to sound like those whiner Dodger bloggers on Twitter, but on the way to work I was listening to MLB in XM and they had Manny Acta on talking about how great Carlos Santana was and how he's going to be part of the next great generation of hitters, and how teams are already putting the shift on when he comes to the plate....*cries*

I hear ya. I really try not to be a Monday-morning-GM, because when you're in contention, you inevitably end up giving away a future star for a few years of a veteran. Shit happens, but that doesn't mean that I have to be thrilled about it when it does.

OK, so I'll take a stab at the Tuesday morning GM'ing.2-3 needs:1. A Starter. Roy Oswalt? Great. Ted Lilly? Maybe. Another Ortiz? Hell-to-the-no.2. 7th or 8th inning guy. Breezy ain't coming around anytime soon, and HLACK can't be overused with a paper-thin tendon in that left elbow.3. A bat, preferably an outfield bat. I fear Manny will be sporadic through the end of the season. Bottom line is the Dodgers are better with him than without because pitchers change their whole approach with him in the line-up.

The Dodgers may need to find someone who can come close to inspiring that type of fear, and XPaul is not the guy. I could see getting a power guy at third, and The Beard spending some time in left, but it's a reach.

I think we all have to breathe and calm down. Whatever the McCourts tenure have been, it's the most successful run the franchise has since I'm a fan. These Dodgers core is the most exciting ever,in my case I hadn't ever came up with nicknames for players, let alone things like "king" or "son"

We're just halfway the season and there's no possibility of mathematical elimination yet. I think we should be more positive and remember worse times. They are way better than this and I'm confident they'll play to their potential.

@Paul I know what you mean with choosing names for Dodgers players. When Coper arrived, I wanted him to be "Lasorda" or "Koufax" but this family is composed by Braves, Mets, Yankees and Dodgers fans so there were synchronized "NOs".